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Do these laptops have hardware on/off switches for the webcam and the microphone? If they don't, are there any such laptops? I couldn't find a modern and powerf

Do these laptops have hardware on/off switches for the webcam and the microphone? If they don't, are there any such laptops? I couldn't find a modern and powerful full HD laptop which has no integrated mic and webcam (which I don't need).

JoshTriplett 13y ago
I've never seen a laptop with either of those. Many webcams do have the activity light controlled in hardware, such that it isn't possible to record without a clear indicator. I haven't seen a microphone killswitch, though; most microphone mute buttons are software-based. If you're that concerned and trust your software stack that little, it wouldn't be that hard to open up the system and physically disconnect the internal microphone, such that you can only use a 3.5mm or Bluetooth microphone. But if you trust your software stack that little, you have bigger problems. Efforts like the one in this article are a good step towards not having to worry about that kind of problem.
- exarch 13y ago
  On the subject of the camera/microphone activity light and how it isn't possible to bypass, I'll just leave this here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/18/research-shows-how-macbook-webcams-can-spy-on-their-users-without-warning/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/18...
- conductor 13y ago
  > Many webcams do have the activity light controlled in hardware, such that it isn't possible to record without a clear indicator. Yesterday's news show that some implementations can be unsecure [0]. > But if you trust your software stack that little, you have bigger problems. I generally trust the software that I run on my main CPU but there are other threats like DMA malware [1] for example. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929974 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929974 [1] - http://www.stewin.org/papers/dimvap15-stewin.pdf http://www.stewin.org/papers/dimvap15-stewin.pdf
  - vipstarry 13y ago
    That's only for a Macbook. You can't say the same is done for these X60 computers.
tedunangst 13y ago
I have a Thinkpad T430s (previous generation) with no camera or microphone built in.
csmuk 13y ago
The X60 that they advertise does not. However, you can disconnect the hardware pretty easy. I've done this on my T400. Took about 5 mins with a Swiss army knife screwdriver (all you need to service a ThinkPad!).
mdip 13y ago
That would be an excellent feature and years ago I had a laptop that had a simple plastic sliding piece that would cover the camera lens. Later versions eliminated this piece (it probably broke off too frequently). I have taped a piece of aluminum foil over every webcam on my laptops/iMac with a large piece of packing tape (making it possible to pull it aside when I do rather frequent video conferences). I get dismissed as paranoid (or the next question that's asked is "what do you do in front of your computer!"). What they don't understand is that years ago I wrote software for a building access kiosk that involved a one-way video chat, followed with a photograph taken of the visitor. I used an open source library for interacting with the camera. When video was running, the light was on. I had the worst time getting the camera to take a picture, but after a bit of tinkering (read: shooting bullets randomly), I had it working. It was my coworker that noticed the light didn't come on when the picture was being taken. I had done something wrong (so wrong that every few pictures, the camera would stop working and wouldn't recover until the entire machine was rebooted). Though I've been writing software professionally for twenty years or so, I had never wrote code to interact with a web cam and yet had somehow managed to stumble upon this entirely by accident. It gave me the willies, so from that point forward, I covered my cameras with a bit of ugly aluminum foil. I've never really worried about the microphone, but it would be nice to have some kind of hardware control to disable devices that can be used to record in that manner.
- fidotron 13y ago
  I've recently run into one where it's possible to make Android devices recognize the faces of people in front of the device via the front facing camera with no sign of this to the user. Someone has to actually start an app (which needs camera access) and it is possible for it to be killed, but I too did this entirely by accident and would now be super wary about it.
  - Crito 13y ago
    A few months ago I added a little tiny square of electrical tape over the front-facing camera in my phone. I never have a reason to take pictures of myself, so I'd rather that camera not exist at all.
rodgerd 13y ago
You can certainly delete the webcam from T-series Thinkpads, which also have hardware switches for the wireless network. No ability to delete the microphone, alas.
GrinningFool 13y ago
My alienware has a keyboard+Fn key for disabling the camera which is technically not hardware - but it seems to be handled in the bios. When I use this under linux, it reports an unrecognized keycode; but at the same time the USB device reports as if disconnected, which I can see in dmesg. Close enough for me.

JoshTriplett 13y ago

I've never seen a laptop with either of those. Many webcams do have the activity light controlled in hardware, such that it isn't possible to record without a clear indicator. I haven't seen a microphone killswitch, though; most microphone mute buttons are software-based. If you're that concerned and trust your software stack that little, it wouldn't be that hard to open up the system and physically disconnect the internal microphone, such that you can only use a 3.5mm or Bluetooth microphone. But if you trust your software stack that little, you have bigger problems. Efforts like the one in this article are a good step towards not having to worry about that kind of problem.

exarch 13y ago
On the subject of the camera/microphone activity light and how it isn't possible to bypass, I'll just leave this here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/18/research-shows-how-macbook-webcams-can-spy-on-their-users-without-warning/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/18...
conductor 13y ago
> Many webcams do have the activity light controlled in hardware, such that it isn't possible to record without a clear indicator. Yesterday's news show that some implementations can be unsecure [0]. > But if you trust your software stack that little, you have bigger problems. I generally trust the software that I run on my main CPU but there are other threats like DMA malware [1] for example. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929974 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929974 [1] - http://www.stewin.org/papers/dimvap15-stewin.pdf http://www.stewin.org/papers/dimvap15-stewin.pdf
- vipstarry 13y ago
  That's only for a Macbook. You can't say the same is done for these X60 computers.

tedunangst 13y ago

I have a Thinkpad T430s (previous generation) with no camera or microphone built in.

csmuk 13y ago

The X60 that they advertise does not. However, you can disconnect the hardware pretty easy. I've done this on my T400. Took about 5 mins with a Swiss army knife screwdriver (all you need to service a ThinkPad!).

mdip 13y ago

That would be an excellent feature and years ago I had a laptop that had a simple plastic sliding piece that would cover the camera lens. Later versions eliminated this piece (it probably broke off too frequently). I have taped a piece of aluminum foil over every webcam on my laptops/iMac with a large piece of packing tape (making it possible to pull it aside when I do rather frequent video conferences). I get dismissed as paranoid (or the next question that's asked is "what do you do in front of your computer!"). What they don't understand is that years ago I wrote software for a building access kiosk that involved a one-way video chat, followed with a photograph taken of the visitor. I used an open source library for interacting with the camera. When video was running, the light was on. I had the worst time getting the camera to take a picture, but after a bit of tinkering (read: shooting bullets randomly), I had it working. It was my coworker that noticed the light didn't come on when the picture was being taken. I had done something wrong (so wrong that every few pictures, the camera would stop working and wouldn't recover until the entire machine was rebooted). Though I've been writing software professionally for twenty years or so, I had never wrote code to interact with a web cam and yet had somehow managed to stumble upon this entirely by accident. It gave me the willies, so from that point forward, I covered my cameras with a bit of ugly aluminum foil. I've never really worried about the microphone, but it would be nice to have some kind of hardware control to disable devices that can be used to record in that manner.

fidotron 13y ago
I've recently run into one where it's possible to make Android devices recognize the faces of people in front of the device via the front facing camera with no sign of this to the user. Someone has to actually start an app (which needs camera access) and it is possible for it to be killed, but I too did this entirely by accident and would now be super wary about it.
- Crito 13y ago
  A few months ago I added a little tiny square of electrical tape over the front-facing camera in my phone. I never have a reason to take pictures of myself, so I'd rather that camera not exist at all.

rodgerd 13y ago

You can certainly delete the webcam from T-series Thinkpads, which also have hardware switches for the wireless network. No ability to delete the microphone, alas.

GrinningFool 13y ago

My alienware has a keyboard+Fn key for disabling the camera which is technically not hardware - but it seems to be handled in the bios. When I use this under linux, it reports an unrecognized keycode; but at the same time the USB device reports as if disconnected, which I can see in dmesg. Close enough for me.